


The Legacy

by Ariella1941



Series: In The Shadow of Empires [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, POV First Person, Plot, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:13:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariella1941/pseuds/Ariella1941
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The search for Darok and Arkous leads Aryelle and Theron to Rakata Prime where Theron finds himself confronting a shadow from his family's past.</p><p>Edited 7/16 to reflect the rescuing Revan flashpoint storyline.</p><p>Shadow of Revan Era</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Legacy

_Theron Shan:_

“All right, all right… we’ll be there right away, Jakarro. Just don’t tear the limbs off of anything,” I said, then stopped and looked at D4. “Er… Anything else.”

The Wookie cut the connection just as I heard the hatch hiss open. I knew who it was of course, and that knowledge caused a serious spike in my heart rate. I took a breath then turned to face Aryelle, who gave me a small smile.

_Damn, she’s beautiful._

I managed to catch myself before I said anything out loud, but the way her eyes searched mine made me wonder how much she was picking up from me.

_Lock it down. NOW!_

“Hey, it’s good that you’re here. Our ‘friends’ are eager to get started,” I said to her as I finally managed to find my professionalism.

“And what exactly are we getting started on, Theron?” she asked.

“Colonel Darok, Darth Arkous and their Revanite friends,” I replied, “Since your operation on Manaan, Lana’s discovered a few more Revanites who’ve infiltrated the Republic military. I’ve been slicing the traitors’ communications and tracked the messages back to Darok and Arkous. They’re in a hidden facility on Rakata Prime. That’s our target.”

“So, let me guess. Rakata Prime, the homeworld of the ancient Rakatans?” Aryelle murmured in a deadpan voice.

“The name a give-away?” I returned in a bland voice of my own. “Apparently there are still a few of them there, but their society has regressed significantly.”

“How significantly is significantly?”

“From everything I’ve managed to find, the Rakata have managed to pull themselves back up to where they can forge iron tools and weapons, so we shouldn’t be looking at anything we can’t handle.”

“Unless the Revanites have given them a leg up, and handed over modern weaponry,” Aryelle said, sounding concerned.

“I’m less worried about that than I am about the fact that the cyborg you saw on Manaan was just a prototype. On Rakata Prime, they’re in full production, and the tech the Revanites are implanting? It’s from the Star Forge.”

I watched Aryelle’s brown eyes widen, then she began to mutter things under her breath I’m pretty sure a Jedi Master shouldn’t be caught saying. It was actually pretty impressive how fluent she was. When she finished, I looked at her and simply nodded.

“Yeah, that Star Forge.”

“That explains why Kira and I sensed a Dark Side presence in the lab,” she told me, “The Star Forge was powered by it, according to the histories.”

“It was, and while Revan destroyed the thing three centuries back, there’s still debris in orbit. And that debris is still active. It self-replicates, even self-repairs under the right circumstance, and with that tech grafted to their bodies…”

“Darok and Arkous have their Infinite Army,” Aryelle finished looking a little sick. “The Rakata technology I ran into on Tatooine reanimated the dead, Theron. I really don’t want to think what it will do to living sentient beings.”

Reanimated the dead? I’m better off not knowing the details on that one.

“Yeah, I hear you,” I told her, “but between that and your experience with the Power Guard project you’re the closest thing we have to an expert.”

“I’ll bring Kira along, since she has a better feel for technology than I do,” she replied, sounding thoughtful.

 “Good idea,” I agreed, “Jakarro’s freighter should get us onto the planet’s surface undetected, then we’ll plan our attack from there,” I told her.

As Aryelle nodded in agreement, I smiled viciously.

“I can’t wait to see the look on Arkous and Darok’s faces.”

Sometimes it’s probably a good thing I’m not a Jedi.

* * *

 

Aryelle decided to rendezvous with us at Rakata Prime rather than make the trip in Jakarro’s freighter. The excuse was that the Revanites might try tailing us, and two ships are harder to follow than one, especially with a little creative astrogation. But I got the feeling it had more to do with the fact she and I would be in close quarters for the length of the trip.

It’s not like we’d have any kind of privacy, but it was probably better to avoid temptation. Hell, avoiding temptation was becoming a full time job where Aryelle was concerned, so I was grateful for the change in plans.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

The important thing was that Lana, Jakarro, D4 and I were waiting for the Jedi when they arrived on planet. Aryelle was wearing the same light armor she had at Korriban and Tython, and Kira followed her lead. The two women were walking toward us when Kira stopped and looked up at the Temple of the Ancients.

“What?” Aryelle asked her.

Kira shook her head, and said, “It feels like some of the tombs on Korriban where you can barely sense the Light at all. But this is older… and much more powerful.”

I glanced at Lana who nodded. She’d mentioned something similar when we arrived, so it wasn’t a surprise, but the confirmation didn’t make me any happier.

Aryelle turned and said something to Kira that was too quiet for me to hear, but whatever it was made the Jedi relax.

Aryelle turned back to us and asked, “so, do we have a plan?”

“I don’t know if it’s fair to describe it as a plan, necessarily…” D4 replied, and I wondered yet again why Jakarro just didn’t pitch the damn droid out an airlock.

“I’ve done a bit of scouting. The Revanites are camped up at that old ruin. From the com chatter we’ve picked up, it’s called the Temple of the Ancients.” I said as I tried not to think of all the family history attached to the place. “We’ve gotten this far undetected, so now it’s your turn to go in and make some noise.”

“Since you’re not quite so fearsome as the mighty Jakarro,” the smuggler growled as I managed to not roll my eyes at the bravado, “I will act as a diversion, drawing the enemy away while you approach the Temple.”

And right on cue, D4 started to protest… Loudly.

“What? This wasn’t what we discussed! It’s suicide! I demand you detach me this instant!”

“You will join the rest of your body soon enough if you won’t be silent!”

Aryelle looked at the droid then back at me. “Since D4 tends to… err on the side of caution, I’m wondering what kind of security we’re looking at.”

“They’ve somehow convinced the local Rakatan tribes to patrol the areas around the Temple for them,” Lana replied, “A truly barbaric lot.”

“Does it look like the Revanites handed over any modern tech?” Kira asked as she looked at me.

“No sign as of yet, but the Revanites themselves are guarding the temple grounds. They’re fully armed and paranoid.” I told them, “We’ll be keeping an eye on things from the ship. As long as we all stay sharp, we’ll get this conspiracy shut down permanently.”

“Understood,” Aryelle told me then she turned to Kira, “Time to pay our respects.”

“Always a party with you, Master,” Carsen replied and the two women headed down toward the Temple, even as Jakarro took the second slightly longer route we’d mapped out.

“Come on, Lana, there’s not much more we can do here,” I said and began to walk back to Jakarro’s freighter.

* * *

 

I cranked the sensors as soon as we reached low orbit. You’d think a smuggler would at least invest in good sensor equipment in order to, I don’t know, avoid running into little things like law enforcement. Unfortunately for me, Jakarro didn’t seem big on maintenance.

“Well, well, isn’t this interesting,” Lana commented from the co-pilot’s seat to my left. I turned to look at her as she opened a com channel to Jedi. “The Rakatans’ arena seems to need a challenger. If you’re going to get past, you’ll need to give them a show they’ll never forget.”

I gave the sensors a quick glance and found there was a huge contact even this bucket of bolts couldn’t miss. I hit the mute and gave the Sith a hard glare. “This isn’t some Nar Shaddaa side show, Lana.”

“I know that, Theron,” she told me briskly, “but if these primitives can be awed into submission so much the better.”

Before I could say anything else, the large contact disappeared, and the transponders Aryelle and Kira were wearing were on the move. I refused to look at Lana, and I didn’t need to since she was practically radiating smug. Instead, I shifted the sensors to the Temple perimeter.

“We’ve got activity here,” I said as Lana nodded and unmuted the com.

“Darth Arkous knows you’re here. I’d say he sensed your presence, but I imagine it’s all the commotion. He and Colonel Darok have shored up defenses outside the Temple with their new conscripts,” she told Aryelle.

“Fun, fun, fun,” Kira muttered, “Hey, Theron, how about next time you and Lana are the ones running around while Aryelle and me kick back in the ship?”

“Come back in one piece, Kira, and we’ll talk about it,” I told her. “For right now, be careful. We don’t know what kind of upgrades Darok and Arkous managed to make to the design we saw on Manaan.”

A part of me wished I _was_ down there, watching Aryelle’s back. Not that I didn’t trust Kira to do just that, but it seemed a part of me was going to go stupidly protective whenever Aryelle was in danger. I turned my attention back to the transponders as they moved toward a Temple courtyard filled with Arkous and Darok’s new toys.

There were too many contacts in the courtyard for Jakarro’s lousy sensors to differentiate, so I found myself staring at a large blob on the sensor screen. And I couldn’t do one damned thing about it. Of course, I didn’t have to do anything as I watched the mass of point sources shrink until there were only the two friendly transponder signals.

“That was bracing,” Aryelle said over the com in a deadpan voice.

“That’s one way of putting it. But I’d rather call it ‘nightmarish thing I never want to do again’” Kira commented, “Next time it’s Theron’s turn to watch your back while I play with the computers.”

“You done, Kira?” Aryelle asked in annoyance before I could say anything. I didn’t hear Kira’s reply but there was satisfaction in Aryelle’s voice as she said, “I think I can see a terminal near the main doors.”

“Open a channel for me, and let’s see if I can slice this thing remotely,” I told her and within moments I was in, and not liking what I was seeing.

“Excellent work,” Lana told them as the small holo came up from the terminal’s visual pickup. “Theron’s just sliced into the structural plans.”

“And it’s not looking great,” I told Aryelle and Kira honestly, “your only route takes you right through their ‘conscription center’. The cyborgs are in some kind of standby mode, but they’ll activate the moment you enter the room.” I tapped a couple of commands into the computers and then looked at Lana, “you think you can do a quick perimeter check? I can’t tell if these contacts are real or not.”

“Of course,” she replied and stepped off the bridge.

As soon as I was sure Lana was out of earshot, I looked back at Aryelle. “Right, we don’t have much time, but we can’t risk any of that tech falling into Imperial hands,” I said to her, “Overload the console and it’ll fry everything inside.”

“Theron, you’re asking me to murder people in their sleep,” she replied as her eyes went hard, “That’s not how I operate and you should know that!”

“Look, we’ve got a Sith breathing down our neck, a bunch of crazy cultists and we don’t even know if these cyborgs have enough of a mind left to be _called_ people.”

“Kira and I will handle it the same way we did on Tatooine, but I refuse to let fear guide my actions.”

“Is there something to be afraid of?” Lana asked as she came through the bridge hatch.

“No,” I said, glaring at the holo of Aryelle. “Apparently not. I’ll add the sensors to the list of things that can’t be relied on. We’ll contact you if anything else comes up.”

* * *

 

There wasn’t much to do but wait, as Aryelle and Kira made their way up the Temple. They were half way to the top when I saw a power spike consistent with a small shuttle’s power up sequence.

Lana opened the com channel and said, “Arkous and Darok must know it’s over for them. They’ve fled to the rooftop where they have a shuttle waiting.”

“We’ll shoot them down if we have to, but we really need the chance to interrogate them,” I added even as I powered up the ship’s weapon system.

A third transponder signal, appeared on screen as Jakarro and D4 caught up with them.

Aryelle had kept her com open so Lana and I heard everything.

“You’re going to confront the men who betrayed us!” Jakarro growled. “We will spill their blood together!”

I could almost see Aryelle’s wince as D4 added, “please try head-butt them with your own skull this time.”

Two contacts waited at the center of the rooftop, and I realized I was holding my breath as Aryelle confronted the bastards. “It’s over. Your little conspiracy ends here.”

“My, but we have a high opinion of ourselves, don’t we?” I heard Arkous say.

“More like an evaluation of reality,” Kira replied, “since we trashed the place.”

“This project would have accelerated our plans considerably,” Darok said, “losing it is regrettable, but it will not stop us.”

_Dammit!_

Lana and I weren’t in a position to have any effect on what was happening. The ship’s weapons weren’t even close to being designed for fire ground support, and there was no way we could get to the Temple fast enough to make any difference.

“You’ve done a fair bit of damage, but the project isn’t a total loss—after all you’ve helpfully delivered yourself up for slaughter.”

“Darth Angral said the same thing, Arkous,” Aryelle replied, “You have one last chance to surrender.”

“We’re not surrendering,” Darok said, “and you won’t be leaving this rooftop alive.”

I desperately tried to think of something—anything—I could do. I didn’t even have a visual feed, since the systems I’d sliced either didn’t interface with the security cameras on the rooftop, or there weren’t any to slice.

I really _hate_ being helpless.

I never could tell how long that fight lasted. It was either a few minutes, or forever, but I breathed a sigh of relief when Aryelle appeared on the holo, along with Kira, Jakarro and D4.

“Darok and Arkous fought to their last breath,” Aryelle told us, “We won’t be getting any information from them.”

“Copy that… Blast it,” I cursed. Without that info we’d hit a dead end as far as the Revanites were concerned. And with no way of knowing who to trust, this mission just got a lot more dangerous.

“Why should we care what they would have said?” Jakarro growled, “They were liars!”

“I must agree with my master,” D4 added, “they’re far more trustworthy as corpses.”

I shook my head. I wasn’t in any condition to teach a class on basic tradecraft to the Wookie or his droid. Before I could say anything I felt Lana tense beside me, and Aryelle’s eyes went unfocused.

“You feel that? Kira? Lana?”

I saw Kira nodded as Lana replied, “yes, I sense… something. We’re in danger.”

Alarms started screaming, and the sensors showed a mass of point sources. Capital ships, enough to form a small squadron.

“Multiple sensor contacts. Capital ships dropping out of hyperspace. No IDs,” I said, rapidly trying to piece together the insane amount of data coming my way. “One of them’s coming in hot!”

The holocam Aryelle used to contact us was still up, so Lana and I saw the second holo the capital ship produced. And we heard the speaker loud and clear.

“Arkous and Darok were valuable allies in my cause. But their deaths will not delay what is coming,” he said.

“I know that voice… It’s him. Revan,” I whispered, not realizing I’d said anything out loud until Lana looked at me in surprise.

“My Infinite Army could have achieved so much,” The image said as it hung there. “But I still have other weapons in my arsenal.”

“Why?” Aryelle asked, somehow managing to stay calm in the middle of this insanity. “I rescued you from Maelstrom Prison. You were going to work for the good of the Republic. What’s so important that you’d betray us like this?”

“What is so important?” Revan said, sounding frustrated and angry, which weren’t good signs in my mind. “I seek to finally end the greatest threat this galaxy has ever faced. My followers are legion and continue to grow daily as many realize the truth of things. The Emperor couldn’t break me. Even _death_ could not stop me. I will finish what I…”

I didn’t catch the end of the rant as Aryelle turned back to the holocam and yelled:

“Theron, run!”

Even as the words were out of her mouth, sensors whined as the capital ships powered up their turbo lasers. And as Revan’s flagship laid down fire on the Temple; the two closest ships tried to lock on to us.

Instinct and training took over as I threw the ship into a dive, dropping below the ships’ line of fire.

“Lana! Get the…”

“Already on it,” she told me as she began punching coordinates into the navicomputer. “Ready.”

I threw the lever, and the stars were replaced by the blue swirling haze of hyperspace.

_You left her behind._

That one thought began to run round and round in my head, even as cold logic pointed out that with that amount of laser fire there was little hope that whatever escape shuttle Darok and Arkous had planned to use would have gotten off the ground.

I locked the guilt, pain and anger away. We still had work to do, especially now that Revan had shown himself.

Revan… there was another open wound I didn’t need. I switched on the com and sent an encrypted message to T3. The astromech was keeping an eye on things at Carrick Station while I was away. Maybe we’d get lucky and something would break this wide open.

I didn’t have much hope, however.

“They’ll make it, Theron,” Lana told me quietly.

“Is the Force talking, or you just trying to make me feel better?”

She just ignored the barb and continued, “We’ll see them again soon, I’m certain of it.”

“Well, the only thing I’m certain of is I need a few hours shut eye,” I said dully, “Can you keep any eye on things?”

“Of course, Theron. Get some rest.”

I fell asleep as soon as I hit the sack, but the nightmares were waiting.

* * *

 

The trip back to the Core was pure hell, which managed to become even worse once I reestablished contact with my network. The Revanites had some nasty thank you presents waiting for us after the party on Rakata Prime. The only good thing, relatively speaking, was that they targeted Jakarro and D4. Nobody burns the kind of favors it takes to get death marks declared in that many separate star systems on the dead. And if those two were still alive, then Aryelle and Kira were too. They had to be.

I sent T3 a new set of instructions: locate Aryelle if possible and send her to Manaan. I didn’t want to risk more signal traffic than absolutely necessary, so T3 wasn’t to report back once contact was made. That was a hard call, since a part of me was desperate to know if she was alive, but with everything that was hanging over our heads I couldn’t justify even that small risk.

So there I was, waiting with Lana in the same conference room we’d used during our operation here. The same room where I’d nearly kissed Aryelle Thrace.

I tried not to think about those things when the door hissed open. I looked up to see Aryelle walk in—alone-- with a newly healed scar on her chin.

“Kira?” I asked as I somehow resisted the urge to hold her tight, to make sure this was real.

“In _Shrike’s_ kolto tank and grumpy about it,” Aryelle told me with a resigned smile, "the turbo lasers kicked up a lot of debris, and she took a hit to the collar bone. It’s also when I got this.” She motioned to the scar self-consciously.

“It’s good to know you’re safe,” Lana replied with relief.

“Yeah,” I agreed trying to keep my personal feelings in check, “with the amount of fire Revan’s ship was laying down… I wasn’t optimistic. It’s good to see you.”

Jakarro stormed in, and predictably, started making demands.

“Forget all that—my ship had better be in one piece!”

That sent D4 panicking about the components Jakarro had stored aboard the freighter.

“The ship is fine, come see for yourself,” I said, knowing I didn’t sound all that reassuring. “There’s something we need to talk about actually…” I gestured for the Wookie to follow me, and tried to hope for the best. Not every day you get to tell someone they had twelve separate death marks on their head.

* * *

 

“Jakarro took it better than I thought,” I said to Aryelle and Lana as I walked back into the conference room. ‘Better’ of course being a relative term. I looked at Lana and asked, “Have you told her yet?”

“I think it’s best if you do the honors,” she told me.

_Of course you do. Coward._

Then again, I’m not exactly one to talk, since _I_ wasn’t looking forward to breaking the news either.

Aryelle and Lana exchanged their goodbyes, and after Lana walked out I shook my head.

“She’s pretty confidant for someone with a bounty on their head.”

Aryelle raised an eyebrow. “The Revanites are putting out bounty contracts now?”

“Not directly, no. It’s an Imperial contract for murdering Arkous,” I told her, “under any other circumstances she would have gotten a promotion for that kind of thing. And they also arranged twelve separate death marks for Jakarro. That’s a new record for him.”

“And you?” she asked, and I felt stupidly pleased at the concern in her voice.

“’Disavowed rogue agent. Apprehend on sight,’” I quoted from the reports I’d seen. “It’s pretty tame compared to the others. The Director must have stood up for me.”

Aryelle smiled slightly as she said, “Sounds like you’re a dangerous man to be around.” She was trying to make it a joke, but I could still see the concern in her eyes, and something else…

“That’s why I have to go,” I replied, somehow managing to keep my voice even. I didn’t want to leave, and I certainly didn’t want to leave her behind. But personal feelings were a secondary consideration, no matter how much I hated it.

“The Revanites haven’t tried to touch you yet,” I continued, “your record is still clean. Probably because it would take a hell of a lot to incriminate the Hero of Tython, and they’re not willing risk it. But that’ll change if you’re seen working with us. So, Lana, Jakarro D4 and I are all going off the grid. We need to stay hidden if we’re going to continue our investigation… No contact. Period.”

“No contact,” she murmured then looked away from me. “Of course.”

The pain in her voice was the breaking point. I reached out, gently tracing the scar on her chin with the pad of my thumb. My heart started racing when I heard her sigh. Her skin was soft and warm as I followed the line of her jaw, savoring how _right_ this felt.

“If we had more time…” I whispered even as the part of me that was the professional intelligence operative fought to retake control. I finally removed my hand and said, “but we don’t.”

Aryelle nodded and when she looked at me again the Jedi serenity was back. Not perfect but there.

“I need you to do something for me,” I told her as I fought to keep my own center. “The Revanites will be watching you, so do what you do best: travel the galaxy, achieve impossible things, and make it hard for them to keep up. The busier you keep the Revanites, the easier it’ll be for us to slip through the cracks and find their leader.”

“Speaking of their leader,” she replied, “Theron, it may just be…”

“My ancient ancestor come back from the grave to kill us all?” I deadpanned, “I don’t know, but there was something about him.”

“Which is why we need to learn more,” she finished for me.

“Exactly, so I’d better get moving. The faster we start running, the easier this will all be,” I said, “I’ll send word as soon as we have something.” I stopped for a moment, trying to think of something else to say, then settled on, “take care of yourself, Aryelle.”

“You too, Theron.”

I was half way to the docks when I realized something. The one constant in my relationship with Aryelle was that our conversations always seemed to end with one of us turning to walk away. And the more it happened, the less I liked it. I needed to do something about that. Soon.


End file.
